Ski Trip

So for my birthday the only thing I, Melissa, wanted was to go skiing. So we planned a ski weekend with our family. Even though my birthday was at the beginning of March, this past weekend worked better for us so that is when we decided to go. On Thursday, the day before we planned to leave a big blizzard hit Colorado. We have had a very mild winter, so it seemed we got all of our snow in one day. Because of the storm, we got a late start but it didn't put us too far behind. We have heard about the lodging at the YMCA at Estes Park and Winter Park from many friends and family so that is where we decided to stay. http://www.ymcarockies.org/home/our-locations/snow-mountain-ranch

We got a 4 bedroom vacation home that is supposed to sleep 10, we made it sleep 9 adults and 4 kids. It was nice and cosy. It had the most amazing view and you could definitely see the beauty God blessed Colorado with.

We first had a sleigh ride planned. It was a sleigh ride though the forest with a stop in the middle for hot cocoa and to roast marshmallows. Lady and Sadie were the huge gorgeous horses that pulled our sleigh. We were all really cold but it was fun. Brady was very annoyed because we had him very bundled and he could barely move. He started to fall asleep toward the end of the ride, but he had a good time.

Here we are with our niece and nephew, Chelsey and Shawn. Meeting the horses.

Chelsey got a marshmallow stuck to her chin.

Petting one of our horses, Lady.

The family with the horses

Our Sleigh

After our sleigh ride we got settled into our cabin and started dinner. We had a nice dinner and celebrated my birthday with cake, which was wonderful. We had a fireplace with real wood and took advantage by roasting marshmallows and making smores. That night we stayed up late talking and having fun together, but we had a big day of skiing planned the following day, so we were ready for bed. Early risers, Brady and cousin Zack, playing together in their Pj's.

We went skiing at sol vista ski resort and it was a great place, perfect for families. http://www.solvista.com/ski/index_ski.asp We were so blessed, because Jeremy's parents offered to watch Brady while we skied and it made our day nice and relaxing. My friends, Melissa, Erin, and Mike were awesome and drove up from Colorado Springs for the day to ski with us. We had a great time and we were all tired and sore. Some of the highlights from skiing were dropping my cell phone off of the ski lift (it still works), Chelsey's cute circle sunburn on her face, my friend Melissa's bruises that every first time skier gets, and my crash into a table of unsuspecting spectators after not being able to stop at the bottom of the hill.

Erin and Melissa (in the background) Skiing

Julie and I on the ski lift

Brady's mean Mom made him pose for a picture. Poor thing was so bundled up, he could barely sit.

Jennifer and Shawn

Melissa, Erin, and I

After a long day of skiing, some of us went tubing, while Brady, my friends, and I watched. We all went out for dinner and headed back to the cabin. We played some games and and we were all so exhausted that we happily went to bed.

Sunday we had to head home, but we had a great time. I think we will all remember this trip for a long time, and hopefully we can make these trips a yearly occurrence.

On the porch at our cabin, with the gorgeous views.

Bath Time

Brady loves to try to do everything himself. He always wants to feed himself, and if you are eating something then he should be eating that also. He is such a big boy! One of the fun things about having a boy is the fact that he can be messy. I would feel like I left something important out of his childhood if he didn't. So every once in awhile we get messy! The best thing about getting messy is Bath Time! We love Bath time. He only gets a bath every other night, otherwise his skin would get way too dry here. So on bath nights he loves it. He loves to splash and play and have tons of fun.

We are really looking forward to the next few weekends. Tomorrow we are expecting a Blizzard! So we will most likely stay home to enjoy one last good snow for the winter. Friday we are headed to Winter Park to have a fun ski weekend with family. Next weekend Grandma is coming! We are excited to play and celebrate with her on her Birthday. The weekend after is Jeremy's birthday and Easter. So we are anticipating the upcoming weeks. We will keep you updated with lots of pics.

Happy St. Patricks Day

Happy St. Patricks Day! We don't really celebrate the day but we are definately Irish so we have to wish you all a happy day. Hope your day was great and you didn't get pinched! Thanks to Grandma for the cute bib, Love Brady.

Dog Park

On Sunday it was a beautiful day, so after church we decided to take the dogs to the dog park. This is a favorite place for the dogs. We have to spell out the words d-o-g p-a-r-k, otherwise they know what we are saying and they get very excited. They start running around the house like crazy and crying. So we got ready and finally let the dogs know where we were going and they went crazy. After we all piled into the car and were on our way, the dogs were whining with excitement, and Brady was laughing the whole way. Brady isn't used to having the dogs to look at on his car rides so he thought it was wonderful. Here is a picture of the dogs in the very back of the car.

We decided to go to the dog park that is a little farther away because it is so awesome. There are quite a few around the city, Coloradans love their dogs, but this one is the best. It 25 acres, that has a stream running though it, and a whole separate area just for small dogs. http://www.dogparkusa.com/colorado/colorado-springs-area/bear-creek-dog-park It is one of the top 10 dog parks in the country. Brady loved watching all the dogs and he always loves little hikes. Here we are, with Brady in the baby Bjorn.

The dogs favorite part of the park is the water, they love to run and play and splash. Here they are playing. Coco does have one problem when we go to the dog park, she becomes rabid. Not in a aggressive way, but in a foaming at the mouth way. We are not sure if she gets nervous or what, but as soon as we get to the park she immediately starts foaming. It is pretty gross and a little scary. We heard a little girl say to her mom, "What is wrong with that dog?" Here she is foaming. So foam or no foam, we had a great time as family and enjoyed another beautiful, Colorado day.

Baby Jail

Hi everyone, we hope you all are having a great weekend. We are enjoying nice sunny weather here in Colorado, but who knows, as we say here the weather can change every five minutes, so maybe soon it will be snowing! We have been busy, but at the same time nothing eventful has happened.
Ever since Brady learned how to pull up, he tries to pull up on everything. When he wakes up each morning or from his nap we know he is awake by the sound of him trying to break out of his crib. Here he is one morning waiting for us to get him out of his baby jail.

Brady is increasingly mobile, so he tests our ability to confine him daily. He mostly plays with his toys in our living room, on the floor. The way our house is set up, the living room is raised from the rest of the main level, so there are two stairs that go down to our kitchen and two stairs that go down to the front door and our office. There are also a flight of stairs that lead to the upstairs level. It is a really neat floor plan that we fell in love with when we bought the house, but it is not baby friendly. The only way to put baby gates up is to drill into banisters and walls. So we have one gate that blocks the stairs so Brady cannot go upstairs but for the other stairs we have a cardboard box that is our gate. It worked for awhile, but he has figured out that it isn't very sturdy so now we have invented a new concept, watching him! We are currently teaching him how to go down the steps on his belly, so hopefully he will learn soon how to go up and down the stairs safely. Here is Brady and Coco trying to get though the baby gate to the stairs.



We hope you have a great week! Love you all!

My Toys

Brady has a ton of toys. That is an understatement. Today was toy cleaning day. So I had all of Brady's toys out and we decided to take a picture. Now this isn't even all of his toys. These are just the toys from the living room. He has more everywhere! There are more in his room, in his bathroom, in our room, next to his highchair, in his diaper bag, and in the car! He is one blessed baby. He has his favorites, but sometimes he looks at toys he hasn't played with in awhile, and it is like they are brand new to him.

Currently, one of his favorite toys is a little musical piano that his Aunt Julie got him for Christmas. He loves it because he can pull up on it and stand. He also likes to make the music play and dance. When we start to play he always goes for this toy first.

Who knows maybe he will become a famous musician or composer. If not maybe we can sell all of his toys to pay for our retirement. :)

Happy Birthday to Coco!

Happy Birthday to Coco!

Today was Coco's 3rd Birthday. Once upon a time it was an eventful day. But that was before Brady. Our dogs were our spoiled little babies before Brady, and ooooh how their lives have changed. Today Coco got a bone, and of course Belle also, but nothing like what they used to get on their birthdays. Here is a pic of Coco as a puppy with Belle curiously eyeing her.

Because our dogs are a husky mix and a lab they shed constently. This is one of the worst times of year for their shedding. We have to sweep several times of day just to keep up. I can't vaccuum enough. Last year the hair completely clogged my vaccuum. Luckily my dad fixed it on one of his visits, but you can see that with a crawling baby who puts everything in his mouth this is impossible to deal with. So today we recieved one of Coco's birthday presents, the Furminator. We had heard about this brush that deals with dogs and cats that shed, so we got it. It is normally $50, which is way to much, but we found it online for much cheaper. So it arrived today and it is amazing. After 5 minutes of brushing the dogs we got so much hair off that we could make another small dog. It was a gross clean up but once is so much better than 3 times a day.

So if you have a dog or cat that sheds, get this! It works!

http://www.furminator.com/shedless.cfm

Next time you come to my house, you hopefully won't need a lent roller when you leave.

Look what I can do!

Brady decided that it would be a good idea to grow up even more and he now pulls up on things and stands up. Not only does he stand while he is holding on to things but yesterday he let go and stood by himself for a few seconds. He is already a daredevil and determined to grow up too quickly. For some reason it seems like a baby still crawls, but a grown up toddler stands. I get tired just thinking about Brady being a toddler and getting into everything. I am just not ready for him to be so grown up. BUT, he is the cutest little grown up baby I have ever seen. Here is Brady pulling himself up for one the first times. For the record, I had no idea that my belly was hanging out and would be in the video the entire time! Sorry!